Books and Their Covers
by bookworm12890
Summary: Everyone thought Demyx was nothing but hyper and dumb. They should have known that he didn't say not to judge people by their appearences for nothing. [Demyxcentered fic Pairings DemyxRiku, barely implied Akuroku, RoxasSora T for curses, slash, etc.]
1. Chapter 1

When everyone is growing up, someone always tells them to not to judge a book by its cover. No one ever listens until they do find a book with a terrible cover and it actually reads pretty well, and most don't even realize it's supposed to be an analogy to people until it's too late.

Edym was one of the ones who actually listened. He didn't pay attention to it when it actually dealt with books, but he definitely did when he talked to people. That's how he was seen as so friendly and hung around with so many people up to the point of the heartless attack.

But even when Edym became Demyx he held true to it. But instead of telling people and acting on it, he decided to prove to people that they shouldn't and created his own book cover. To date, no one had looked past it.

It's said when you die, your life flashes before you. When Demyx died, he saw a few things in particular…

---

"Hey, Demyx?" The blonde nobody turned to see Roxas standing behind him, holding something in his pale hands. "Do you know what this is?"

Demyx looked closer and the thing looked up at him, white fur slicked down as it twitched its nose. "I think it's a rabbit, Rox."

"Oh." Roxas looked at the creature again, examining it. Demyx watched Roxas watch the rabbit.

"Why do you ask? And where did you find one?"

"Oh, uh…" The boy turned a little red. "Well, I saw it in Land of the Dragons and didn't know what it was, so…" He turned, starting to leave. "I'm going to take it back now."

"You really like figuring stuff out, huh?"

Roxas gave him 'the look.' "Of course I do. It's the only way you can learn."

That's what started it all.

---  
Demyx, as usual, narrowly dodged one of Larxene's daggers. "Why don't you go play darts or something?" he asked in a squeaky voice as one almost hit very low.

"I am playing darts, silly," the girl chimed with a smirk.

"No, I mean the game with a board that isn't living. Eek!" He dodged one that nearly pierced his ear.

"Why should I?" Larxene asked, "You make funny noises like this."

"Y-Yea, well…" Demyx thought for a moment. He really didn't want to be like this to learn what he wanted. "How about I play darts with you and I'll, uh, do a mission for you if you win?" He didn't set any terms for him winning and they both knew why.

She smirked, walking over and pulling out her daggers. "Alright, then."

About thirty minutes later Demyx had lost horribly and Larxene was looking very triumphant as she walked out of the room. Demyx glanced after her and made sure no one else was in the room before throwing the darts the way he'd seen her do it.

They hit the bulls-eye every time.

---  
Occasionally, Marluxia would let Demyx help water his plants. He still had to keep an eye on him, however, as Demyx didn't know how much was too much water. He was being scolded yet again for his efforts.

"Demyx, you can't give them all the same amount of water!" the scythe wielder was saying.

"Why not?" the blonde asked. Marluxia sighed.

"Because, plants aren't all the same," he explained, "Some need light in order to grow and some prefer shade. Some need rich soil and some grow in clay. And some don't need as nearly as much water as you're putting in there!"

"Oh, ok." Demyx nodded in understanding and resumed his job as Marluxia stalked away. Marluxia thought he'd just been talking about flowers.

Demyx knew that he was really talking about people.

---  
Luxord always won at cards, whether you tried or not, so Demyx didn't try and paid attention to how the Gambler of Fate played. He cheated a lot, so that was one thing that made him win, but he liked to form strategies too.

"You always need a plan, Demyx," Luxord was saying this time as he pulled over the poker chips on the table, "You need to think of a plan in that brain of yours and prove you're capable of using it."

Demyx smiled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. He already had a plan.

---

Sometimes Demyx would go out into the World that Never Was and stare up at the falling rain, letting it fall on his face and flatten his hair. Today, however, he had spotted silver hair and decided to follow it.

He watched the pale boy rush through the city with a little smile. He knew why he was there, but didn't know his name. He knew that the boy was there to try and take Roxas away. Demyx didn't like the sound of that, but he knew Roxas wanted answers.

So the nobody watched. It must have been very nice, he thought, for this teen to have people he really cared about.

Demyx couldn't bring himself to be angered by him taking Roxas away.

---

"Axel?" Demyx asked one day, looking cautiously over at the fire user. The redhead was the only one in the castle who seemed to understand that Demyx was smarter than he looked and acted.

"Hm?" Axel looked back at him.

"Why did you do all that?" the blonde asked quietly, "Kill all those people in Castle Oblivion, I mean."

"Hey, I only killed Vexen," Axel pointed out, "Sora killed Marluxia and Larxene, that silver-haired kid killed Lexeaus, and Vexen's experiment killed Zexion."

"Yea, I know, but you had a part in it," Demyx frowned, "Why did you do it?"

He smirked and leaned down towards him. "Because they were screwing up, got it memorized?"

Demyx gave him a look. "How were they messing up?"

"They were getting in my way," Axel shrugged.

The blonde knew Axel only told him because Demyx wouldn't tell anyone. But it was good thing he did, because Demyx might need to use manipulation sometime.

---  
It was night and Demyx really wanted to sleep, but he'd ended up talking with Saix instead. The diviner was reading the stars.

"We will get our hearts back someday," he stated simply.

"How?" the blonde asked.

Saix didn't answer. He didn't like having questions asked when he was divining. "It is unlikely it will be in this life, however."

Demyx tilted his head to the side. "So why don't we all just let Sora kill us and then get our hearts back?"

"Because," the blue-haired man replied a bit testily, "dying on purpose would be a waste of this life."

Demyx thought calling an existence without a heart a life stupid, but he didn't say that. Saying Saix had said something stupid was inviting death, and he hadn't learned all he wanted yet.

The stars turned out to be pretty informative.

---  
Zexion was reading when Demyx came across him. "Hey. What are those weird mind trick things you do?" he asked.

The Cloaked Schemer looked up at him. "Illusions," he replied.

"How do you do them? They look pretty cool."

That earned him a raised eyebrow. "My illusions are created by magic. However, mental illusions can be equally effective."

Demyx tilted his head to the side. "Huh?"  
Closing his book with a sigh, the man stood. "Mental illusions. Making something believe in something that's not true." He walked away to rid himself of the conversation.

Demyx decided illusions might be fun.

---

Lexeaus never said much, and Demyx never pressed him to. Sometimes they'd be sitting and the blonde would start talking about anything at all, something bothering him or something he'd seen, and the Silent Hero would listen and nod.

Demyx thought he was the smartest of them all. He knew listening was important and that listeners were needed more than talkers.

---  
Whenever Demyx looked into the lab, Vexen was there trying something new. He was determined to research the workings of the hearts they had lost and went to many lengths to do so.

"Why do you keep doing that?" Demyx would ask.

Vexen would scoff and reply, "I'm nearly there! I'm not about to give up."

He was never nearly there, but the blonde got the point anyway.

---  
Xaldin had tried to pin Demyx to a wall with his spears more than once, so the nocturne was pretty wary of them. He did ask once, however, how it felt to use spears.

"Spears are an extension of the arm," Xaldin replied, "It is merely a way of directing the force farther out than your hand."

Demyx thought about this for a moment. "So it's like you got six arms?"

He ended up needing Axel to rescue him from his hanging position, but at least he really did understand what Xaldin had said.

---

There was no question in anyone's mind that Xigbar liked to shoot things. He'd offered to teach Demyx a few times, and the blonde never was very good at it.

"Look, kid," Xigbar explained, "You gotta look where you're shooting. You're not going to hit the tree if you're looking at the cow."

Demyx frowned and shot at the target, hitting the very edge. "Better," Xigbar complimented, while the blonde pouted.

He'd been aiming for the outer ring.

---  
Xemnas's meetings were always long and boring, but Demyx listened anyway. People thought he was spacing out and staring at the ceiling, but he was always listening. He heard the ideas and arguments and Xemnas putting them together to come up with a good plan. Soon he found himself internally doing the same.

If he had to, Demyx knew how to lead.

---

When Demyx died, Sora heard him cry out. Inside, he was laughing.

He knew what came next.


	2. Chapter 2

[Author's Note: First off, I'd like to say… wow, guys. XD I had no idea people would actually like this. Eight people (I do know when people add it to favorites or story alerts) acknowledging they've read a story of mine is really cool. It makes me happy. Reviews telling me what you liked and what you hated would make me even happier, but I can't get picky.

Demyx was a very deep sleeper and so it was really hard to get him awake. Actually, he wasn't really sleeping per say; he just didn't want to get up. So he was perfectly awake when his boyfriend tried to pull him out of bed.

"Demyx…" Riku muttered with a sigh, "You need to get up. _Now_."

The blonde replied with a spectacular display of rolling over and ignoring him.

Riku stood up on the bed and kicked him lightly.

Demyx didn't budge.

Riku gave up and went to take a shower.

When he returned, the blonde had finally gotten up, but only into a sitting position. With an annoyed sound, Riku tried to pull him up, but Demyx just grinned and pulled him close. "Demyx…" he started in a warning tone.

"Yes?" the blonde chimed, kissing the boy unceremoniously as he tried to reply. The teen gave a cute noise, blushing deeply. He coughed to regain his voice as the elder grinned.

"Don't you have an interview today? I was trying to make sure you wouldn't be late…"

"It's in the afternoon," Demyx said, "Besides, my mother is my alarm clock." The phone rang and he lifted the boy from his lap. "There she is now."

Riku turned his back on his boyfriend, pulling his shirt on as the blonde picked up the phone. "Good morning, Mom," he said brightly, "I'm still a musician."

His mother had stopped even greeting him at times like this. "Have you even considered what I said?" she asked pleadingly.

"Yup," her son replied brightly. His mother had been calling him everyday since he left home to ask if he wouldn't change his mind about college and go full-time rather than just taking a few music classes. She thought he was wasting his life and should be a lawyer instead. "Really, mom. I don't want to argue for a living. It'd take the fun out of it."

"You said that yesterday."

"Yea, well, if you didn't _call me every day_ about it, maybe I could think up some new retorts."

The silver-haired teen snorted, shaking his head. He'd gotten used to the constant phone calls as well. "Look, mom, I've got to go."

"Promise you'll think about it?"

"Don't I always? Bye." Demyx hung up before she pressed anymore. He felt arms wrap around him to indicate Riku pressing close to him.

"Will she ever get the point?" he asked.

"Eh, probably not," the blonde shrugged, not seeming to care. He'd resigned himself to the status of 'not-hated-but-disapproved-of-son' and didn't see that changing. Turning to face the younger, he kissed his lips lightly. "You have to go now, hm? Have a good day."

Riku smiled a little, kissing him back before exiting. The blonde stretched his arms towards the ceiling, getting dressed quickly and pulling his blonde hair back into a ponytail before going over to his computer. He clicked the internet open and his eyes scanned his email. Nothing unusual at all, but he did get the feeling that something bad was going to happen.

The screen flashed as an IM popped up. He grinned.

Flamerboy08: Yo.  
Waterbeatsfire (he had gotten this screen name for the sole purpose of annoying his friend): Heya. What's up?  
Flamerboy08: Sure you want to know?  
Waterbeatsfire: …You haven't been molesting a certain blonde fifteen year old again, have you/  
Flamerboy08: Haha. Funny.  
Flamerboy08: And that means no.

Demyx rolled his eyes. He kinda of doubted that, really, since Sora had been getting more grumpy according to Riku. He started typing again.

Waterbeatsfire: Yea, yea, whatever.  
Waterbeatsfire: So really, what's going on?

There was a long period of silence, which worried the blonde. Axel wasn't one to stay quiet. When he typed again, he wasn't sure he liked the answer.

Flamerboy08: Ever feel like you're really forgetting something?  
Waterbeatsfire: …This is me you're talking to.  
Flamerboy08: I mean more than your damn keys.  
Waterbeatsfire: They're so jingly, they shouldn't be so hard to find.  
Waterbeatsfire: But yea, kinda. Why? Do you think you forgot something?  
Flamerboy08: I know I did. Think I finally remembered it too.

Demyx blinked. This conversation was making less and less sense.

Waterbeatsfire: Then why bring it up?  
Flamerboy08: No reason, really.  
Waterbeatsfire: Fucking liar.  
Flamerboy08: Just consider it a warning, ok?

He logged off again before Demyx had a chance to reply. He thought briefly about calling the redhead up and asking, but knew Axel wouldn't answer because he was a bastard like that. A bastard with caller ID, too. He grumbled as he rubbed his temples, glancing at the clock. Come to think of it, he didn't know how to get to his interview. Turning back to the screen, he looked up the address and let his conversation with Axel drift to the back of his mind.

The time of his interview eventually rolled around and he headed off out of the apartment building. He had to walk there, since he didn't own a car and no buses ran near him, so he got out early to make sure he was there on time. He was generally a chronically late person, but he was smart enough to figure out that it wasn't a good first impression.

The building of this recording company was huge, which slightly surprised him. The auditions had been a few weeks before and had been at a different location, so this… was odd. And big. And… quite frankly very shiny. He shrugged and went inside, finding the correct floor and going up to it in the fancy elevator.

When his name was called, he walked into the big room and spared a glance around. He didn't recognize anyone except for the two that had been at his audition- a man with ratty red hair who wasn't paying attention to him and a short, blue-silver haired man was doing quite the opposite. This man was watching his every step, occasionally adjusting the glasses on his nose. He looked more like a scientist rather than an interviewer and it was really creeping Demyx out.

Other than that, the interview went very well. They thanked him for coming, he thanked them for their time, there was an awkward pause and then he was allowed to leave.

His day went considerably downhill when he got outside and had a gun pointed to his head.

Alright, so he lived in the city and should have expected stuff like to this to happen every once in a while. There was just the fact that this guy was hanging upside down from seemingly nowhere and grinning at him like a maniac.

"Lo, Number Nine," he grinned.

Demyx's first instinct was to run. This is exactly what he did until the man was in front of him, confusing the blonde beyond belief.

"What's wrong?" the man shrugged, "Not gonna do anything to ya, buddy. Not if you don't turn traitor, anyway. Glad you finally did something about your hair."

Resisting the urge to comment about how he liked his hair, thank you very much, Demyx snapped. "Who the hell are you?" he asked sharply.

The man raised an eyebrow at him. This wasn't the reaction he had expected at all. "Xigbar, who else?" he replied.

The name rang warning bells in the blonde's mind. "Never heard of you," he lied dryly.

Xigbar's frown deepened. "Well, I suppose you might not remember yet…" he stated, "But hey, I know some ways to jog that brain of yours!" As he aimed the gun, Demyx decided a different approach was needed.

Thankful for his karate classes, he kicked the gun out of the gunner's hand, knocked the wind out of him, and proceeded to run for his life. Thoughts were trying to force their way into his pounding head, but he somehow knew that he wouldn't stay conscience through them. So he ran until he was back home and collapsed on his bed.

Meanwhile, Xigbar was staring after the boy in amazement. "Huh. You really think that's him?" he asked the smaller man who had appeared beside him. Zexion glanced after the musician with a considering look.

"Possibly not, which means we'll have to look elsewhere," he said quietly, "But if it is, then it would seem we have bigger problems than we thought."

"I don't think Demyx would turn traitor," Xigbar shrugged.

"Neither do I, but…" The former sixth of the Organization glanced over at him. "He and Roxas were both too curious for their own good."


	3. Chapter 3

\/p>

[Author's Note: I am SO SORRY this took so long to get out. Unfortunately, it might be the only thing from this story I can get out. First of all, my computer died, quickly followed by my Demyx-muse. Seriously, I have no idea where he went. I'm writing another story centered mostly around Roxas and Sora, and I'm trying to keep working on this, but it isn't looking good. I'm really sorry.

"Demyx? Demyx!"

When the blonde awoke later, it was to Riku's panicked face above him. He gave a weak little smile and wave as he tried to ignore the pounding in his head. "Hi, Riku…"

"Don't 'hi' me," Riku stated with a frown. Demyx felt vaguely accomplished. It took a bit to make Riku worried. His head wouldn't allow him to get too prideful, though, deciding now would be a good idea to remind him of a whole lot of stuff. Most of which involved really long lectures from Xemnas, boring white walls, and getting stabbed with keyblades. Not exactly ideal. He mumbled and turned over on the bed with a wince. He barely concealed a harsh cough.

Before he knew it, Riku had pulled blankets up around him and made sure he was firmly tucked in. Demyx had forgotten how effeminate his boyfriend could be. "Get some rest," he said stubbornly, kissing his forehead.

"M'fine, Riku. Really," the blonde insisted, sitting up. Riku pushed him back down, having to sit on him to make him stay. Demyx clearly didn't mind this, wrapping his arms around the boy happily. The teen blushed, giving him a look.

"Are you really ok?" he asked.

Demyx nodded, smiling. "Yea, I'm all good Just felt a bit woozy." He paused. "That's a really weird word."

Riku was used to Demyx going off on random tangents when he didn't want to talk about something anymore, so he looked suspicious. The blonde kissed him in an effort to silence him, and it worked for a few minutes.

"How was your interview?" Riku asked quietly when he was no longer distracted by Demyx's very pierced tongue.

"It was ok," the blonde replied, kissing the side of his forehead, "It was pretty fancy."

"Hn." Riku leaned against him, still looking a bit disbelieving. "What aren't you telling me?"

Moving so their noses touched, Demyx grinned at him. "What do you think I should be telling you?"

Riku gave up again. He wouldn't stop bugging him about it, but for the moment he let it go. Sooner or later, Demyx would tell him whether he liked it or not. Demyx knew this was going to be the outcome as well, but he was going to put it off for as long as humanly (nobodyly?) possible.

Standing, the silver-haired boy looked back at him. "I have to go. Stay in bed."

"M'kay" He knew it was a lie, and he knew Riku knew it was a lie, but nothing else happened anyway. The teen waved and Demyx waved back, but as soon as the door shut he was up and grabbed his phone. Punching in a few numbers, he held the phone up to his ear and waited.

When someone picked up, he said, "Axel, that was one terrible warning."

He could almost hear the redhead smirking. "Well, at least I gave you a heads up, right?"

"It didn't help. At all." Demyx sighed, collapsing back on the bed, "What the hell do they want, anyway? We have hearts now… I think." He put a hand on his chest and felt the little thump from inside it. "Yea, we do. So why?"

"It's Xemnas. You really think he needs a reason?"

"Yea, yea I do." The blonde frowned at the phone. "He's not stupid, Axel. Long winded and boring, yes. But definitely not stupid. If I'm not stupid, he's certainly not."

"Who said you weren't?" The Flurry of Dancing Flames was smirking.

"I hate you, you know that?"

"It had occurred to me, yes."

Demyx sighed. "Can we get back on topic, please?"

He heard a 'tch' from the redhead, but he got no other debate. "Fine, then. What do you think he's up to?"

Demyx frowned at his phone again, trying to send the vibes through it to whack his 'friend' in the face. "I don't know. I'm thinking."

"Do you really need for me to be on the line to think?"

"No, but I do need someone to tell me how stupid it is," the blonde replied, "Now shut up for a minute."

Axel did for a moment, but spoke again, "Since I doubt you're going to come up with anything before my minutes run out, I'll give you some suggestions. The three main causes for big bad organizations in our lovely corporate country are power, money, and sex."

"Uh… that last one we can rule out pretty quickly," Demyx coughed awkwardly, "Power… nah. Zexion was in some big company, so Xemnas is probably Donald Trump in disguise or something like that. Only that would be really creepy. Money kinda applies with that, so…"

"Sure, shoot my ideas down," Axel muttered, "Got anything better then?" He didn't get an answer. "Dem?"

"…Our hearts," the blonde mumbled.

Axel rolled his eyes. "Didn't you already rule that out?"

"That we have them now, yea," Demyx said, "but do you remember all the crap he used to spit off about emotions all being rage and pain and stuff like that?"

"How could I not?"

"Rhetorical question." There was a pause. "What if that's really all he feels?"

The redhead didn't answer. Demyx wasn't sure if he was thinking or not.

"I mean, if that's the case… then he's gotta be pissed about the whole being killed thing. So, what he could be after is…"

"Revenge," Axel finished.

"It does sound like a Xemnas sort of thing," the blonde stated.

The fire wielder muttered, "Oh hell yea, it does."

They were both silent. Demyx had no clue what Axel was thinking about, but he was wondering about Sora and Riku. They, obviously, would be the first targets if he was right. Which he was doubting less the more he thought. Sora, though now he was a little annoyed about the whole killing him thing, had become one of his best friends. And Riku was, well… Riku.

"So, what're you gonna do about it?"

Demyx blinked. "Huh?"

"What do you mean, 'huh'?" the redhead scoffed, "Don't tell me you're going to sit there and do nothing."

He sighed. "Then what should I do?"

The blonde knew Axel was looking at him weird through the phone. "Oh, I don't know, try to not let them kill the people you seem to like?"

Demyx was quiet for a moment. "You are the worst person I could possibly say this too, but I'm not a traitor, Axel."

"Well, it could be worse. You could have said it to Marluxia and then you would be dead right now," the redhead replied, sounding perfectly cheerful.

"True…" The musician waited, apprehensive.

Axel could tell. "Hate to break it to you, buddy, but you're going to end up a traitor either way."

Freezing, Demyx didn't speak for a moment. "What…?"

"You have three choices. One, you help Riku and Sora. Then you'll betray the Organization. Two, you rejoin the Organization. That way, you'll really hurt Riku and Sora and basically everyone who has ever been nice to you. Unless Xemnas has and I don't know about it." Demyx could have sworn he heard something catch on fire. "Three, you do nothing. Then you've betrayed the Organization by not helping and your friends for not warning them."

"…Is there a forth option?" Demyx asked.

"Suicide."

"I'm not quite that desperate… yet." The blonde sighed, putting his forehead in his hand. "Shit…"

"Sorry, man." He didn't sound much like it. Frankly, he sounded annoyed. "You have to make a choice. Got it memorized?" The line went dead- Axel had hung up. And Demyx was glad he had.

Tossing the phone aside (it barely missed a lamp), the young man lay back on his bed, closing his eyes. Nothing could ever be easy. After several minutes of trying to clear his head, the blonde fell into an uneasy sleep.

---

"Wow, you actually stayed put."

Demyx opened his eyes blearily, Riku's face swimming above his head. It was dark outside, signaling he'd been sleeping for a while. He felt warmth suddenly move near him, the younger boy lying down next to him. He closed his eyes again, the guilt he could now feel rising quickly. Why was this such a hard choice? It should have been so easy…

Riku obviously detected distress, looking up at the blonde. "You ok?"

"Yea…" the blonde nodded with a small smile as he opened an eye to observe the silver-haired boy that was cuddled up next to him. Damnit, Demyx, pick him. It's not that hard. It should be really easy so don't let your stupid loyalty to something you didn't even join willingly get in the way. 

His inner lecture wasn't working.

Riku smiled slightly, oblivious to the inner monologue. "Don't get sick or anything, ok?" The elder nodded, his head falling back.

His mind went back to the morning- had it really just been this morning?- and Xigbar's expression when the blonde had swore. Demyx never uttered a single curse word in the presence of the Organization members (except maybe Axel when he tried to set his hair on fire). He had acted like a completely useless idiot who liked to play music and run out with his hood down when it was raining.

Maybe they wouldn't know who he was.

And maybe he'd finally get some use out of all that stuff he had learned.

\/p> 


End file.
